Beast Boy vs Black Manta
by Tagalong
Summary: Written for the Defeat The Villain Challenge on the Young Justice Challenges Forum. Beast Boy is alone in the cave when who should sneak in but Black Manta. How will he deal with the villain all alone? Takes place in season 2. One-shot.


**A/N This is written for the Defeat The Villain Challenge by P2tbAnimeGirl. I picked Beast Boy and Black Manta. This takes place out of the ordinary for me... season 2. No major spoilers. **

Beast Boy was sitting in the cave. He had been stuck in the cave all day, and was _very _bored. M'gann had promised to play a board game with him, but had been called away on some super-secret mission that he was apparently 'too inexperienced' to go on. At least according to Nightwing. With the senior team members gone, and the rest of the newer ones occupied with homework, the 13-year-old was left alone in the cave. Did he mention he was _bored_? This emergency called for extreme boredom fighting measures. He wandered into the security room. It was the only room in the cave (aside from personal rooms) he hadn't explored. He looked at all the screens broadcasting the empty rooms of the cave. He was technically not allowed to be in the security room, but since no one else was in the cave, he decided to take the risk. Finding nothing interesting in the room, he turned to leave. Maybe something had magically popped up for him to do in his room. He didn't notice that as he left the security room, his tail hit the 'off' switch for all security systems.

**DEFEATTHEVILLAINDEFEATTHEVIL LAIN**

Kaldur'ahm had disappeared. Black Manta didn't know where he had gone, but he suspected his son's former team had something to do with it. He had been running his scanners for any information as to where the Team's secret cave was. A person would think that would have been the first place Kaldur'ahm would have told him the location of. While his son was completely loyal to him, he only gave out information that was relative to whatever 'project' they were working on at the moment. Black Manta didn't usually care _when _he got the information as long as he got it when it was needed, but he didn't appreciate the irony of needing to know where the team's cave was and the only one knowing being missing (presumably _at _the cave). Suddenly, his scanners beeped. They had detected a large amount of Zeta Tube activity at a mountain in Happy Harbor.  
"Mount Justice," the villain mused. "Hiding in plain sight all these years…"

**DEFEATTHEVILLAINDEFEATTHEVIL LAIN**

Unfortunately for Beast Boy, nothing had magically appeared to entertain him, so he was amusing himself by morphing into bizarre combinations of animals. He was blissfully unaware of the super-villain heading for him at that very moment. All that was on his mind was how cool he looked as a dragon-rabbit-dog. After a while, though, even this game got boring. He strolled into the mission room to see if the holo-computers there would let him play games.

**DEFEATTHEVILLAINDEFEATTHEVIL LAIN**

While Beast Boy was tampering with the computers, Black Manta was deciding the best plan of attack to get into the cave and interrogate whichever team members were there. As much as he didn't want to admit it, when the young team was together, they were a force to be reckoned with. He had elected to go in alone, as he wanted to interrogate the teens himself. His spies had informed him the elder members of the team were out on a mission, so he could count on Nightwing, Ms. Martian, Batgirl, Superboy, and Bumblebee not being at the cave to stop him. The rest of the team was less trained and, without their leader to instruct them, it would be incredibly simple for him to just walk in and interrogate whoever was in the cave. He walked out onto the beach, and noticed the cave's entrance right away. He stealthily snuck up to the cave's front entrance and walked right in. The super-villain was surprised when nothing stopped him from waltzing directly into Mt. Justice. _'Why haven't I tried this before? Mt. Justice has practically no security at all! I could have exterminated all the young heroes years ago…'_

**DEFEATTHEVILLAINDEFEATTHEVIL LAIN**_  
_

It was quickly revealed to Beast Boy he couldn't play games on the computers. He wandered aimlessly out of the mission room and straight into Black Manta. Beast Boy went into attack mode so fast it would make the Flash family jealous. He transformed into a tiger and leaped onto the villain's chest. Black Manta retaliated by shocking him with some sort of high-powered Taser. The shock rendered the hero helpless. He lay on the floor twitching.

"Where is Kaldur'ahm?" demandedBlack Manta, looking down on the boy.

"I don't know," spat Beast Boy. "Isn't he _your _little minion now?" He was regaining movement. He wanted to attack immediately, but he remembered something Nightwing had said in one of their training exercises. 'If the enemy is stronger than you, wait for the perfect moment to strike; you only get one.' Although the boy didn't think it all that useful at the time (he was always with a stronger team member) it was saving his life right now.

"Is anyone else here right now?"

"Why should I tell you?" Outwardly, Beast Boy was calm. On the inside, however, he was starting to panic. He knew from personal experience if you didn't have the information a bad guy wanted, he would kidnap you and hold you hostage until someone who did know came to rescue you. After that it just got ugly.

Black Manta was also starting to worry. If the green child really _was _the only hero in the mountain, and didn't know where Kaldur was, then it was a wasted mission. If there were other heroes here, he could be caught at any moment. Black Manta decided to deviate from his original plan. He grabbed a length of rope from a hidden pocket in his uniform and bent down to tie up Beast Boy. If anyone on the team knew where his son had gone, they would gladly exchange information pertaining to his son's whereabouts. He pulled out his Taser. These heroes were tricky. A person could never be too careful.

This was the moment Beast Boy had been waiting for. At the exact moment Black Manta touched the Taser to his skin, he morphed into an electric eel. He channeled the electricity from the rod and became supercharged. The villain gasped. Beast Boy began to flop around wildly. Maybe this plan was a little flawed. He still wasn't back at 100% from his first tasing, and he couldn't change back. A sea animal could only survive without water for so long.

More than anything, Black Manta was shocked he had fallen for the young boy's ploy. As he stared at the green eel flopping around on the floor, he regained his composure. He stepped on the eel. The super-villain had utterly underestimated the electric charge Beast Boy was packing. Even with the rubber in his boots, the shock was enough to stun him. The bad guy fell to the floor.

Luckily for Beast Boy, just as he ran out of oxygen, he changed back to his humanoid form. He clutched his stomach gasping for air. He recovered quickly, and tied Manta up with the same rope the villain was planning to tie _him_ up with.

"How does it feel to be the one on the ground?" Beast Boy quipped. Manta growled. The thirteen-year-old began to drag the older man to the cave's emergency holding cells. "What do you _eat_? You weigh a ton!" He changed into a sled dog. _'Much better,'_ thought Beast Boy.

Black Manta was seething. Not only had he not found his son, but he had also been taken down by a child. A child! He would lose all credibility as a capable super-villain. He was taken to a cell that seemed to be designed especially for his detainment. It must have been a hundred degrees in there! Needless to say, the man was _not _pleased.

**DEFEATTHEVILLAINDEFEATTHEVIL LAIN**

Nightwing and the rest of the rest of the team who had been on the mission arrived back at the cave an hour later. Beast Boy was waiting for them.

"Black Manta broke in here while you guys were gone."

"What? Are you okay!?" asked M'gann, worried.

"Yeah. He's in a holding cell."

"Beast Boy. How did he get in here?" inquired Nightwing.

"I dunno," replied Beast Boy. "I just ran into him." Nightwing walked towards the security room with a troubled expression. Beast Boy made as to follow him, but M'gann stopped him.

"You're _sure _you're fine?" His older sister embraced him.

"I'm _fine_!" As exasperated as he was, he didn't pull away from the hug. He had actually been pretty terrified when he first saw Black Manta. Remembering he owed his life to Nightwing's training, Beast Boy said, "I've gotta go talk to Nightwing, I'll be right back." He wriggled out of M'gann's hug.

As he was walking into the security room, he heard a robotic voice say, 'Security systems back online.' Nightwing turned.

"Were you in this room at all while we were gone? All of the security systems have been switched off."

"Uh… sorry…"

Nightwing's eyes narrowed behind his mask. Beast Boy sensed this shift in mood and quickly began to make excuses. "I didn't mean too! I was just so bored, and I-"

"It's fine," Nightwing interrupted. "You handled it. No one's perfect, just be more careful next time. Now you know why you're not allowed in here." Beast Boy was visibly relieved. "Not that you won't be punished…" The younger boy slouched. "What did Manta want anyway?"

"Something about Kaldur being missing."

Nightwing paled. "Don't tell anyone why Manta was here and you'll have no punishment." Beast Boy opened his mouth to ask why, and then thought better. He didn't want to risk getting off punishment free from his serious mistake. He nodded mutely. Nightwing turned to leave the room.

"Hey Nightwing," called Beast Boy. The older hero turned. "Thanks."

"For what?"

"For all the things you've taught me during training. They really helped me today."

"You're welcome." Nightwing left the room, followed by the green boy.

**DEFEATTHEVILLAINDEFEATTHEVIL LAIN**

"Kaldur!" Nightwing exclaimed entering the abandoned warehouse, "You have to be more careful! You were gone for too long, and Manta _came to the cave today_! Looking for _you_! We have him detained, so you'll have to break him out to keep your cover. We still need your influence."

"Apologies. I didn't believe I'd be missed." Kaldur responded. "Yes, if I were to break him out, that would keep my cover secure."

Nightwing sighed. "Just… It's going to be suspicious you know where and when we'll be transporting him. This can't happen again."

"Understood."

"Any new developments?"

"I am reasonably certain my father trusts me enough to send me on more 'high priority' missions now. I am not looking forward to fighting my friends."

**A/N I hope you like it P2tbAnimeGirl. Everyone else, check out the challenge; I had a lot of fun writing it! Review please! IMPRORTANT MESSAGE!: Go to iTunes and check out Common Royalty's song 'A Song I Heard'. Proceeds from the song go to help build a house in Africa for human trafficking victims. If you don't have iTunes, there's a YouTube video too. Search 'Common Royalty A Song I Heard' and you can watch it. Thanks! ****  
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